It's A Matter of Trust
by Northern One
Summary: Ben, Riley, and Abby take another whirl wind adventure around the world in search of another treasure. But this time, they are joined by an unusual team member... RileyOC. UPDATED chapter four up.
1. Chapter 1

**It's A Matter of Trust**

Disclaimer: I do not own anything mentioned in this story except for the character of Alexandra H.

_Chapter One: _Impressed? Not so much.

* * *

Riley Poole was not impressed. As he sat in his dark apartment, spooning mouthfuls of cold fried rice into his mouth, he couldn't help but feel a little sorry for himself. There he was, 26 years young and famous, sitting in a dark, empty loft apartment looking down at one of the busiest cities in the entire country. He couldn't help but wallow. He should be out there, beating away the women and fans with a stick. Ever since the treasure thing a few months ago, his name, along with Ben and Abby's, had not left the headlines. That had been part of the reason why he had chosen to move to New York. He was tired of getting countless phone calls from news agencies, newspapers, and magazines asking him to fly out to New York to do an interview. That and it was also where Ben had settled down.

After the treasure and the fame, Riley learned very quickly that just because you choose to trust someone doesn't mean that they'll keep that trust. He made the mistake of confiding in a journalist, who then in turn, revealed his secrets to the entire nation. Although what he had said wasn't very confidential, it definitely taught him a lot about trust. Ever since then, he'd closed up and stuck to a very repetitive story, revealing only what he needed to. That's why he liked being so close to Ben and Abby; he knew that no matter what, he could trust them completely. He liked the feeling of being part of something in such a huge city where it was common to lose yourself. It's what kept him grounded, despite the fame, the fortune, and the parties.

The parties were fun at first. The women had been beautiful and the drinks were intoxicating. But it all quickly got old. The women, he learned, had no substance to them and he found that good looks and nice hair could only count for so much. The drinks weren't sweet anymore, and he found the whole scene rather passé. There were only so many times someone could walk down a red carpet, have their picture taken, drink over priced cocktails and beer, and then go home.

As he finished off his day old Chinese food, he went over to the balcony of his apartment and went out, resting his elbows on the ledge. The low, bass beat of music was echoing up to his ears. The smell of the city, an intoxicating mix of smoke and smog, met his nose. He was about to start feeling even more sorry for himself when his phone rang.

"Hello?" he answered

"Riley? Hey, its Ben"

Riley smiled into the darkness, happy to hear a familiar voice.

"What's up? It better be something good if you're calling me at 2 in the morning" Riley quipped, yawning.

Ben laughed and sighed.

"We both know you were well awake. But anyways, do you think you could catch a red eye out to Boston?"

Riley raised an eyebrow but moved into his bedroom, pulling out a small suitcase underneath his bed.

"Sure, what for?"

"Remember when I said that next time we find a treasure that redefines history for all mankind, you could make the call on the finder's fee?"

Riley froze, the shirt he had in his hand dropping to the floor.

"Well you might get that chance"

* * *

"Attention passengers, flight 219 to Boston is now boarding. I repeat, flight 219 is now boarding"

Riley broke out of his electronic Battleship hand held game induced coma and looked up, realizing that he was the only passenger left in the area and the perky flight attendant was staring right at him. Hastily, he shoved everything into his leather carry all and booked it to the terminal, handing her his boarding pass. He was let on and he ran down the connector, not stopping until he hit his seat on the small, night time jet. The New York to Boston red eye was something he'd taken previously before, since Ben had a summer house in Boston and he often went out there to visit. It was a short flight, about an hour, and he usually recognized a few people who took the flight ritually. But as he surveyed the small population of passengers on today's flight, his eyes caught onto a strikingly beautiful women sitting a few rows back, on the opposite side of the jet. From what he could see, she had a gentle, oval shaped face with long, wavy brown hair that was tied up into a neat bun, with a few pieces pulled out for affect. She had tan, olive toned skin and wine stained lips. She looked up to check the screen that told them their ETA and he recognized that she had dark, chocolate brown eyes. She was beautiful.

"Sir? Would you like some coffee?" the flight attendant asked. It snapped him out of his concentration on the woman. It was the same attendant that had snapped him out of his revere at the airport and now she looked a little agitated by his disregard for her.

"Oh, no thank you" he said, shaking his head and giving her a sheepish smile. She nodded and returned a very forced smile before moving on. His eyes flickered back towards the girl, who was then putting earphones over her ears and opening up a book. A few seconds later, he drew his vision back towards the seat infront of him and he shut them, letting a wave of tiredness over come him.

By the time he woke up, the plane was rattling due to turbulence as it coasted onto the tarmac at Boston Airport. The small round of riders clapped politely and then waited to disembark from the plane. A few minutes later, the door opened and they all exited the plane. As he got up to leave, something caught his eye from the opposite end of the plane. At the back, against the window, the pretty lady he had spied earlier was fast asleep, and everyone around her had already left. He gathered his things and then walked over towards her, gently nudging her shoulder to rouse her from her slumber. Groggily, her eyes opened and she blinked a few times. He watched her as she slowly became accustom with her surroundings and then sit up abruptly.

"Have we landed?" she asked, rubbing her eyes and standing up. She hastily threw everything into her large, black tote bag.

He couldn't help but notice the small British accent she spoke with. She untied her hair and shook it, the waves tumbling all over her shoulders before throwing her back over her shoulder.

"Yeah, we just landed" he said, side stepping out of her way so that she could leave.

He heard her mumble a 'Thank you' before marching off the plane, obviously in a rush. As he turned to leave, he noticed that she had forgotten her sweater in her seat in her rush to get off the plane. He grabbed it and hurried after her, running off the plane and into the airport. Immediately, he knew that he wouldn't find her. The airport, even at 6 am, was a mess of busy travelers. He tried looking for her wavy hair, but found none in his area of vision. He sighed, and then began his trek towards the baggage carousel. He tried looking for her there, but no luck. It wasn't uncommon for people to take the red-eye and not check any luggage. Half the people on the plane he was on would undoubtly be taking another flight back to New York around 5. Once he found his own bag, he started towards the small café on the second floor which Ben had designated as their meeting place. As he rode the elevator up, his bag over his shoulder, luggage at his feet and the lady's sweater in his hand, he couldn't help but recall what Ben had said over the phone. Another treasure. Ben had found another mystery for them to solve.

As the elevator made it to the second floor, he exited it and made a sharp left, the smells of coffee greeting his nose since the café was right infront of him. His eyes found Ben immediately but more surprising was who Ben was talking too. Even from the back, Riley recognized the sheet of tumbling brown waves and the lean frame of the woman. It was the British one from the plane. The pretty one. The one whose sweater he had clenched in his hand.

He made his way towards them slowly, and eventually Ben caught his eyes.

"Riley! You made it" he said, greeting him. Riley smiled and nodded, putting down his bag to give his friend a hug. Ben clapped a hand on his shoulder and gestured towards the lady, who was smiling at Riley rather amusedly and sipping a cup of coffee.

"Riley, meet the newest member of our team" Ben introduced, as Riley nodded in the woman's direction.

"Yeah, we were on the same flight…you forgot your sweater, by the way" he said, handing it over.

"Oh! Thank you…"she said, taking it from him and giving him a smile.

He stuck out his hand and gave another smile.

"Seeing as we're going to be co-workers we might as well know each other's names. I'm Riley Poole" he said, as she took it in hers and shook it.

"I'm Alexandra…Alexandra Howe" she said, returning the smile.

Immediately, the smile was swept off his face and he let go of her hand.

"Ben…please tell me it's coincidence that she has the same last name as Ian" he said through gritted teeth to Ben, giving him a hard look.

Ben returned a nervous smile and looked around shiftily.

"Not exactly. Riley, meet Alexandra Howe. Ian's sister"

**((Author's Note- Hey everyone. As much as I love to write, I'm not going to continue this story unless I get some feedback. So press that little purple button and review! ))**


	2. Chapter 2

**It's A Matter of Trust**

Disclaimer: I do not own anything mentioned in this story except for the character of Alexandra H.

_Chapter Two:_ Not exactly in line to be knighted

* * *

Riley Poole was still not impressed. As he sat in the shot-gun seat in Ben's conservative little hybrid car, he let his mind wander about all the recent developments. So the beautiful lady from the plane would be spending, undoubtedly, the summer with them. That he could deal with; hell, he even welcomed the idea of spending an entire summer with someone as pretty as she was. What he couldn't deal with, however, was the fact that she was directly related to man who had pointed a gun at him on so many occasions that he had lost count. It made everything a little more problematic.

The short, 30 minute car ride to Ben's mansion seemed to take forever. Between the traffic and the grid-lock, time just seemed to crawl by. The unbearable silence that seemed deafening over the gentle hum of the air conditioning in Ben's car was driving him crazy. As they inched ahead in traffic, Riley decided to speak.

"So…you're Ian's sister" he said bluntly in his signature awkwardly hesitant yet sarcastic tone. He didn't know what else he could have said; it was all he knew about her. That, and the fact that she was very pretty, and he wasn't about to start a conversation with that.

"That's correct" she replied in her charming, faint British accent. He glanced over his shoulder to get a good look at her before speaking again. She was looking out the window, the sun shining brightly in the reflection of her sunglasses.

"Are you his full sister?" he pressed.

She nodded in reply, a few tendrils of wavy hair falling down out of the messy bun she had thrown her hair into. She reached up to reconfigure her hair before replying.

"Yes…we share the same mother and father" she replied again, giving him a faint smile.

He nodded again, unsure of what to do. Giving a look to Ben, who was shooting him a cautious look in return, he gave a shrug.

"Oh…that's a shame"

"Riley!" Ben barked, braking violently. Riley flew forward and then retracted as soon as the seatbelt locked under the pressure. He was thrown back into his seat, and his neck snapped violently into the head rest. His neck immediately began to throb.

"What!?" he shouted back, massaging the back of his head as he glared at Ben for almost causing him a broken neck

"No, Ben, it's fine. He's already made his mind up about me" he heard her say.

As soon as he heard her words, he stopped all movements. He processed her sentence before wheeling around slowly, ready to face her. Who was she to tell Ben how he felt about her? Where did she get off assuming that he was judging her based on the past actions of her brother? Sure, what she had said was totally correct but that was beside the point. The early plane ride, the smoggy air of Boston and Alexandra's new found attitude was just enough to put Riley on edge.

"Excuse me?" he asked, giving her cut eye with an evil glare. He surveyed her again, and found her posture even more angering. She was sitting there, looking out the window, being totally condescending by not even acknowledging Riley's presence. There she was, being all beautiful and perfectly British while he was obviously disgruntled by everything.

She turned from looking outside the window towards him and pushed her sunglasses out from infront of her eyes and onto the top of her head. He turned to her, and for the first time he really looked at her eyes. They were chocolate brown, but at the same time, there were flecks of green around the pupil of her eyes.

That was the thing about Riley that set him apart from Ben and Abigail. He was a keen observer. He picked up on things that the other two may have missed. Whether it was little things, like street names or flight numbers at the airport, or bigger things, such as day light savings and the Liberty Bell tower on the back of the 100$ bill, he always picked up on it. And as she prepared herself to respond to his words, he watched her carefully, detailing her movements and characteristics.

"Clearly, Mr. Poole, you've already decided how you're going to treat me. You're basing everything you think you know about me on my brother, who, just so you know, is nothing like me" she retorted in a direct, harsh tone. She glared at him for a few seconds before looking back out the window, signaling that she was done with the conversation.

"You've yet to prove me otherwise, Ms. Howe" he snapped back, angered that she'd just dismissed him. Ever since he found out who she was, he'd put her on the 'I don't like you' list, but with her attitude, she would have ended up there anyways, regardless of her last name.

"You've yet to give me time too! My word, what has it been, 20 minutes since I first met you? You're not setting the best example either by judging me" she shouted back at him, her face screwed up in a cross between courage and frustration.

He could tell that she wasn't one for direct confrontation. It was clear by her face and mannerisms that she was obviously distressed by everything that had just happened, because he watched her cross her arms over her chest, slip her sunglasses back over her eyes and turn back to the window. Her movements were sharp and deliberate, unlike the fluid ones they were before. He felt a little bad for causing her such agitation, but all feelings of remorse were quickly erased. He'd always lived by the philosophy that if you messed with the bull, you're going to get the horns. And she had definitely picked the wrong bull to mess with today.

"Well, excuse me if I'm not running off to do charity work, but you're not exactly in line to be knighted now, are you?" he cried in reply, before turning around and raising the volume on the radio. He heard her grumble something back to him, but he didn't make much of it. As far as he was concerned, she'd just proven that she was a lot more like Ian then she believed.

* * *

"She's inconsiderate, she's rude, she's blunt, she's stubborn, she's a –"

"A lot like you?"

Riley's mouth paused mid sentence.

"What? No she's…she's nothing like me. And I take offence to that…I'm not blunt. I'm sarcastic. There is a difference" he said sarcastically, evoking eye rolls from both Ben and Abigail.

The car ride to the mansion had been an uneventful one after Riley and Alexandra's little spat. The two said nothing else to each other and the only acknowledgement of the other's presence when was Riley asked her if she wanted him to carry her bag. She replied by picking it up and carrying it into the mansion on her own.

"Riley, all we're saying is that you should give her a chance. She's very nice once you get to know her. We've consulted her on our find—" Abigail started.

"What!? You mean she knows what's going on and I don't? Way to give me the shaft" Riley said, letting his voice silence out at the end of the sentence. He'd had just about enough of Alexandra Howe for one day and wasn't really in the mood to hear that he was already on the outside of everything on his first day in Boston. He was so used to being on the inside after everything that happened that being back on the outside kind of…sucked.

"We wanted to make sure we had something before we came to you. We know that you don't have any time to waste" Abigail said as she patted his arm. The trio were sitting out on the mansion's back patio, all three of them seated in wicker lawn chairs around a glass garden coffee table. From his seat, Riley could see miles of lush forest in every direction. But the nature and the fresh air did little to cure his foul mood.

"Please…I have so much time on my hands that…sorting jelly beans has turned into a hobby" he said rather pathetically, bringing his hand up to his brow and resting his elbow on the arm rest. Ben and Abigail laughed in reply and he felt them giving him sympathetic looks.

They were both well aware of Riley's past struggles with everything. He wasn't one to usually take sympathy, but he was in such a bad mood about everything right now that he took it anyways. The three of them sat in silence for a while, enjoying the weather and view from the patio.

"But…she's Ian's sister. Genetically and logically speaking, there are going to be a lot of similarities between the two" Riley said finally, breaking the silence. Ben and Abigail nodded warily, and then got up, the pair of them holding hands.

"We know…just give her a chance. She may actually surprise you in the end" Ben said, as he looked at Abigail with a sense of endearment. Riley rolled his eyes at this. He'd never been a fan of the sappiness of their story. It was clear to him that Ben wasn't talking about Alex anymore. So, in clutch Riley style, he got up and followed them inside, waiting for the perfect moment to let his sarcastic comment go.

"Sure…but the minute she starts talking about borrowing anything, I'm going to get suspicious"

**((Author's Note: Hey you all! Thanks so much for review my last chapter--it really helped! I set my goal at at least 10 reviews and although I'm one short, I'm going to continue anyways. This chapter was sort of the ground works for Riley and Alex's relationship for the coming chapters. It's going to be a very sarcastic few chapters but eventually, things will settle down between the two of them. EEK! I've revealed too much! Anyways, click that little purple GO button and review away please! ))**


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own anything mentioned in this story except for the character of Alexandra H.

_Chapter Three:_ A pizza and a sorry can do wonders

* * *

"Please tell me you're joking"

"No Riley, me and Ben have a gala to go to tonight, we need you to stay"

"With her?"

"Yes Riley, with her"

"Do I have to?"

"Riley!" Ben barked, walking into the kitchen where Abigail and Riley had been discussing what was going on for the past couple of minutes.

"I thought you said you were going to trust her" Ben said as he walked over to Abigail, holding the black tie in his hands hopelessly. She laughed and then swung it around his collar, knotting it professionally.

"Trust is one thing…liking is an entire different thing. Total different sub-topic to trusting" Riley mumbled as he grabbed a water bottle from the fridge and twisted the cap off, taking a long sip of water.

"Don't worry Riley, I'm not too fond of you either" he heard a voice call as a figure appeared from the stairway, a pair of long legs making their way towards the kitchen. He choked on his water and spat a bit out, a trail of the liquid falling down the front of his shirt. As if on cue, Alex entered the kitchen and gave him a sarcastic grin, before going over to Abigail and Ben.

"Your driver is outside. I have everything ready in the den like you asked to bring Riley up to speed on your research" she said pleasantly, smiling at both of them before adjusting the strap on Abigail's pretty floor length black ball gown. The blonde smiled warmly back at Alex before heading towards the front door, Ben at her tail as he checked his pockets for all essentials.

"We'll be back late…these things always go on for hours. Don't wait up if you guys finish early!" He called before they both heard a door close, a gentle fumble of keys, and then the switch of the lock. Cue awkward silence.

* * *

"Have you had supper yet?" she asked a couple of excruciating seconds later, walking over to the island in the middle of the kitchen and picking up the phone that was laying on the marble counter. He hopped up onto kitchen table across the room and shook his head, forwarding all his attention towards the oddly shaped hole in the top of his sock.

There were a couple of minutes of silence. He could feel that she was watching him, trying to get his attention, but he didn't budge. Every time he looked at her, he felt betrayal. The last attempt on his life by Ian that involved being left in a god-forsaken room a bout a quarter of a mile beneath a church still gave him chills. He couldn't get over it.

"I'm not anything like him, you know" she said finally, putting down the phone a little too violently. She walked over to him and stood against the island and faced him. He stopped moving suddenly and then robotically turned his head to look at her.

"Call me Sir Isaac Newton but the laws of physics tell me that the apple does not fall far from the tree. And usually, when apples grow on the same branch, they tend to fall together" Riley rationalized, giving a rather sarcastic shrug at the end of his sentence. Alex just peered at him, a look of confusion playing on her delicate features. After another couple seconds of awkward silence, Riley sighed and then adjusted his position on the table.

"Let me try and put it into terms you'll understand—"

"I'm not a complete idiot Riley, I knew what you meant. I'm just trying to figure out how someone so supposedly brilliant could also be so narrow minded at the same time" she said, cutting him off and snapping back at him rather rudely.

He sat there. His face looked at is he had just been slapped, which he pretty much had been, only verbally. She pushed herself off the island and then walked around it towards the sink, turning on the water and then running her hands underneath it. She proceeded to wash her hands and only spoke again when she was drying them. It was his turn to look at her and try to get her attention. When he finally got her eyes, he tried to spit out what he wanted to say.

"I'm sorry but Ian—"

"Ian's in jail, as you probably know. Look Riley, I'm not going to waste my time trying to convince you to like me. You don't even have to like me, but you do have to be able to at least be civil with me. This isn't going to work if you keep bringing up my estranged brother every time I do or say something" she said, almost sounding tired. She threw away the paper towel she had used to dry her hands and then rubbed at her eyes.

He slowly started to begin to feel guilty. He'd assumed that they were close and therefore alike. But just because they weren't talking didn't mean they weren't alike, he rationalized in his head. Genetically they will have similarities, and maybe one of those similarities would be backstabbing those you worked with. He slowly felt his faith in that theory started to fade.

"Estranged?" he asked her quietly.

She rested a hand on the island and the sink and stood in the space between them. Nodding, she scuffed the tiled floor with her bare foot. She looked up a couple of seconds later, a few tendrils of her wavy brown hair falling infront of her face. She brushed them away before speaking.

"He left home when I was 11. I'm 26 now. Haven't seen or heard from him since he left" she said before letting go of the counters and walking towards the kitchen exit. She stopped in the doorway and then turned around, hesitant to say something. She turned around, looked at him for a few seconds before saying what he wanted to say.

"I came here hoping to somewhat rectify what my brother did. Loyalty was never his strong suit. But I grew up believing that my brother was brilliant…I looked up to him. Even when he was gone, I still believed that he was doing something noble like working with orphans in Africa or doing relief work for the United Nations. So when I found out what he did…trust me Riley, it hurt me just as much as it hurt you"

* * *

Maybe he had been wrong about her. He jumped off the table in the kitchen and went out onto the deck right outside, sitting himself down in one of their muskoka chairs before looking out onto the vast property of land infront of him. With Ian, Riley always felt that he was never being upfront about everything. He always thought that the brit was hiding something. There was a certain coldness that Ian had always had but with Alex…Riley couldn't help but begin to believe that maybe she was different. The vulnerability she had just showed him seemed to prove that. Ian had never talked about his family. Hell, Riley didn't even know that Ian had had a sister to begin with.

He sighed, knowing that he had made a mistake. He hated making mistakes. He was usually so meticulous about his work that he always caught them before they could screw anything up. But he couldn't help but feel as if this mistake had managed to screw something up permanently. What if she never forgave him for judging her so badly? He knew he wouldn't. As he thought about it, if someone had done to him what he had done to her, he wouldn't even give that person the time of day again. He drummed his fingers on the armrests of the chairs and stared into the forest ahead of him for a couple of minutes more.

Suddenly, he thought back to the initial question she had asked him that sparked the entire conversation. Dinner. She hadn't eaten yet, and it gave him a good opportunity to try and salvage whatever professional relationship he could with her.

Because what woman could turn down an apology and a pepperoni pizza?

**((Author's Note: Hey!!! Sorry for the long gap between chapters. I was waiting for a few more reviews and then life got in the way of writing. But I'm back!! This one is kind of short, but I hope you see how much it reveals about Alex's character. Reviews make my life : Thanks a lot!! ))**


	4. Chapter 4

**It's A Matter of Trust**

Disclaimer: I do not own anything mentioned in this story except for the character of Alexandra H.

_Chapter Four: _Dish Towel and Jet Lag Love

* * *

As Ben applied a little bit more pressure onto the gas pedal of the car, he couldn't help but feel like a new dad racing home to check on his children after leaving them alone with a babysitter for the first time. He could tell Abigail was feeling the same way, because she wasn't telling him to slow down as he went a 120 down the dirt road that led to their country estate. In his head, he was wishing that they had both just ignored each other the entire night and had gone to bed early, but deep down, he knew that that probably hadn't been the case. 

As expected, the gala had taken several hours to get through. After a short speech by each of them saying how honored they were to have a tiny fragment of the treasure they found on display at the Boston museum of Ancient History, they raced through the 5 course dinner, mingled for a couple of hours and then booked it home. They needed both Alex and Riley for their next adventure, and they did not want to get home to either of them packing to leave.

"I'm sure they're fine" Abigail said, breaking the twenty minute silence they had both just endured. Ben slowed down and turned onto the road that would take them home. He threw a cautious look over his shoulder to her and then nodded.

"Hopefully. I just hope that Riley didn't give her too hard of a time. He's still pretty edgy about Ian and everything" Ben noted as the distant lights of their mansion came into view. Ben's eyes flickered to the dashboard clock. 1:45 AM. He then looked back at the approaching house and noticed that it was still considerably lit. They were still awake.

He parked the car and then got out, locking up before joining Abigail as they walked towards the door.

"No, I'm sure everything's fine. I'm sure Riley didn't do anything too bad. Riley is a mature, responsible adult, right?" he asked her as they slowly made their way to the front door. They both suddenly stopped in their tracks and looked at each other, horrified looks on their faces. Riley, mature? Yeah, right.

"Oh my God" Abigail exclaimed before the pair of them ran the rest of the distance, fumbling with the keys and then throwing the door open. As if expecting the house to be in ruins, they were rather shocked to find everything exactly as they left it. Everything was perfectly still and oddly silent. Then they heard it.

The faint sounds of laughter met their ears and they looked at each other again, as if to verify that it wasn't a figment of their imaginations.

"Oh?" Ben asked, turning his right ear towards the direction of laughter. They heard a door open and the sound of footsteps and the laughter all of a sudden got significantly louder, although still very far away.

"Oh" Abigail replied, a small smile playing on her lips as she slipped off her coat and hung in the closet. Un-strapping her shoes, she placed them along with her purse on the first step of the staircase and then missioned down the main hallway to find them. Finally, she reached the kitchen and saw the pair of them washing dishes and cleaning up what looked like a pizza and wings dinner.

"Oh, hey! You're back. How was the gala?" Alex asked as she finished washing the dishes, picking up a dish towel to begin drying.

"Boring, as usual. What's going on here?" she asked as she felt Ben come up behind her, putting a hand on the small of her back before stepping into the kitchen beside her.

"Hey Ben," Alex said before looking back at Abigail. "Nothing, we just finished dinner. We ate outside, it's lovely weather. But we never got around to the research, sorry" Alex said apologetically, placing the two now dry plates and glasses on the counter top. She put down the dish towel and then proceeded to put the dishes away.

"You know, I don't understand why I'm never invited to these things. I mean let's face it…without me, you still would be looking for the charlotte. My program found it" Riley said smugly, before turning to Alex who he directed the last part of the sentence too. She nodded appreciatively and then put on a look of mock-astonishment. Riley laughed and then picked up the semi-wet dish towel. He proceeded to throw it at her, Alex laughing in reply as the towel hit her head and clung to her hair.

Abigail and Ben laughed, observing the two of them interact easily. The blonde looked over her shoulder and smiled at Ben, who was smiling at the two youngsters. So neither of them were packing to leave. Instead, they were actually getting along.

"Tell you what Riley, next time we get invited, you can sit through the 2 hour of speeches, 5 course meal and 3 hours of mingling for me, okay?" Ben bargained jokingly. Riley went pale faced and then shook his head aggressively.

"Uh, I'll pass. I wouldn't want you to miss out on all that" Riley said before putting the last piece of garbage into the trash. Alex had finished too, and was now making her way out of the kitchen.

"You two are probably tired from all the fun you guys just had" she joked as the four of them made their way towards the stair case. There was a chorus of laughter as they made their way up to their respective bedrooms. After saying goodnight, Ben and Abigail took a left while Riley and Alex went left. As she got to her bedroom door, she turned the knob, reached in and turned on the lights. Just as she was about to enter into it, she looked down the hallway and caught Riley's eyes as he did the same thing. She smiled and waved goodnight before disappearing from view and shutting the door behind her.

* * *

Alexandra Howe was definitely not impressed. Jet lag had kept her up for the past couple of days and it looked like tonight would be another sleepless night. As she flipped over onto her stomach, she opened her eyes a little bit and read the red, glaring numbers of her alarm clock. 3:23. Definitely another sleepless night. 

She let her mind wander for a couple of seconds before letting it rest on Riley. Immediately she felt herself smile, and she stuffed her face into her pillow. He was so cute. Although at first she had resented him a little bit, even then she still couldn't deny how handsome he was, in the dorky, nerd way she liked best. He had the most resilient blue eyes that she had ever seen. She liked the way his dark brown hair seemed to have a mind of its own and stuck up in different directions whenever it wanted. He was adorable, and to top it all off, once he stopped being mean to her, he actually turned out to be a nice guy. She turned into her back and looked up at the ceiling, thinking about the night they had just had.

About an hour after she confronted him in the kitchen, he found her in the den going over some researched. He asked her if she was hungry and when she saw that he had ordered food, she knew that this was his idea of a peace offering. He had even tried to apologize, but she had cut him off and told him that she didn't care anymore, as long as they could be friends. They ate slowly, since they were talking so much and got to know each other.

She had found out that his full name was Riley James Poole and that he was one year older then her, since he would be turning 27 in just a few months. He was an old friend of Ben's and took care of most of the technical stuff that they had to deal with. He rewired surveillance cameras, wrote scripting programs, the whole shebang. He was a whiz on the computer.

He seemed like a genuinely good guy. She hadn't met one of those in a while. She had very few guys friends, since most men who saw her started to hit on her immediately. It was very annoying, actually. She was at the age where some of her friends were settling down and getting married and she could barely keep a boyfriend for more then a couple months. But at the thought of being Riley's friend, she felt giddy. She wanted to be his friend and she wanted them to have a good, solid friendship since they would need one as they progressed through their journey in the coming weeks.

Flipping onto her side, she looked at her clock once more. 3:45. Shutting her eyes, she got into a comfortable position and then drifted off into sleep.

Little did she know, a couple doors down, a cute man with resilient blue eyes was thinking similar things about her. Except the more he thought about it, the less content he was with just being friends.

**((Author's Note: Hey everyone!! First of all, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THE SUPPORT. It's really lit a fire under me to keep on writing. That, and I just saw the trailer for the next National Treasure. I'm pretty excited. Okay so this chapter I decided to sort of focus in on Alex because we really haven't gone into how she's felt about Riley. But now we know!! Next chapter we'll deal a little with Riley's take on the evening and then get into the research. I'm writing my own clues and doing my own research so hopefully you will find it interesting! Reviews are much appreciated, so click the little purple button : ))**


	5. Chapter 5

**It's A Matter of Trust**

Disclaimer: I do not own anything mentioned in this story except for the character of Alexandra H.

_Chapter Five:_ Where's the mailbox?

* * *

She woke up with a start the next morning. Thunder was booming from what seemed to be just outside her window and she blinked a couple of times to adjust her eyes. The red numbers of her alarm clock glared 7:40 in her general direction and she groaned. Another bolt of lightening touched down and sent a crack through the house, causing her to feel a lot more awake. She threw the covers back on her bed and sat up, her palms on her pillows as she surveyed her room. Should she get changed already? Considering the fact that they were up late last night and that it was a Saturday, she agreed with her mind in assuming that no one would be up this early. She climbed off of her bed and re-tied the draw strings on her green, pink and white plaid pyjama shorts. She slid her white robe over herself and then carefully opened her door, as if to not make any noise to wake the rest of them. 

She glided down the mahogany staircase silently, her bare feet making hardly any noise as they connected with the old wooden panels. She heard the pelting of rain against the windows as it hit the glass in sheets of water. It was quite the scene outside. As she walked towards the kitchen, she looked behind her at the windows around the front door. The trees were blowing around in the vicious wind and the mailbox at the end of Ben and Abigail's driveway had already blown over and was now no where in sight. Just as she reached the kitchen, she returned her eyesight to infront of her and nearly jumped at what she saw.

"Oh! Good lord" she said, as she stopped suddenly, startled at the sight of Riley sitting silently at the kitchen island, munching on some cereal. Her feet nearly came out from under her from her sudden halt and she had to grab onto the wall to prevent her from wiping out.

Riley looked up from the newspaper he was reading and let out a chuckle at her clumsiness. He seemed to give her the once over and subconsciously she looked at her reflection in the microwave window. Her long, wavy brown hair was still in it the messy bun she had put it in last night, but was looking severely ragged. Pulling the hair tie out, she walked into the kitchen and over to the cabinets.

"I didn't think anyone would be up" she noted as she pulled a bowl and spoon out of the cabinets. She looked over at Riley and found that he was watching her, his amazing blue eyes now behind a pair of adorable square, black framed glasses.

"I'm terrified of lightening. I was hit by lightening when I was a child" he added in seriously, looking at her. She turned around abruptly, dropping the spoon onto the hard granite counter top.

"Really?" she asked, genuinely curious to hear about it.

"No" he replied, smirking at her, before returning his attention back to the newspaper. She gave him a curious look before laughing quietly; pulling the box of cheerio's from the pantry. She poured some into her bowl and then opened up the fridge, pulling out some strawberries, raspberries and black berries. She sprinkled some over her cereal and cut up a few strawberries, putting them on the cheerio's as well. She poured some milk over all of it and then went over to Riley, sitting opposite of him at the island in the middle of the kitchen.

"I should probably tell you about all the research we've been doing" she said as an after though after a couple of minutes of a comfortable silence. Riley nodded his head, his attention not flickering from the newspaper he was holding infront of him. Annoyingly, she gave him an angry look and then swatted it down. But instead of finding out that he had been reading an interesting article on the world's current freshwater situation or something of actual importance, she saw that he had actually been reading the comics, which he had covered up by putting the front page around them.

"Oh, nice" she commented as she surveyed the section of brightly coloured cartoons. He gave her a protesting look before hastily collecting the paper back together. He shuffled them together and then folded them, throwing them onto the kitchen table along with the rest of the paper.

"Well I can't be a genius all the time. Besides…Family Circus is my favourite" he noted before getting off his stool and going over to fridge. She laughed at him and then continued to eat quietly, munching contently on the cereal mixed with the jubilee of berries.

"If you guys are doing all this research, you must have found a clue or something" Riley noted rather intelligently as he went back to his seat at the kitchen island. She nodded a couple times before replying.

"I found it when I was cataloging a bunch of the scrolls you guys found a couple of weeks ago. I work for the Museum of Ancient History in Washington and it had been slipped into the pages of the Guttenberg bible you found that was among the treasure. I think it might have been the first bible ever printed" she added.

"Fascinating, it really is. But how did you find it? People have been combing over that stuff for months now" he added, dismissing her comment about how historically significant the bible potentially may have been. She sighed a little impatiently, noticing how eager he was getting.

"I was the first one to actually look at it page by page. People just crack the cover open, read a couple of lines of Genesis and then close it. I examined it more closely and found a slip of parchment tucked in between the pages of 164 and 165. I took the paper out and then noticed that a verse on page 164 had been underlined. Deuteronomy, Chapter 8 Verse 17" she recalled.

Riley was literally on the edge of his seat. He was looking at her with an intense gaze as she regaled her account of finding the clue. Even she was getting a little excited as she looked back on it. It was all very mysterious.

"What did it say?" he asked her.

She took a breath and then pursed her lips, trying to remember exactly what the passage said.

"Beware lest you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.' You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day." She recited finally, hesitating on a few words but managing to get it right in the end.

Riley stared at her for a couple of seconds after she finished before breaking out into a very confused looking expression. He scratched the back of his head and ran a hand through his short brown hair. He looked towards the hallway for a second before looking back at her.

"That's the clue?" he asked, still looking confused. She frowned in reply.

"No, that's the bible passage" she said rather defeatedly. Suddenly, the lights flickered on and off and then shut off completely. They heard the beep of the alarm go, signaling that it was kicking into reserve power and they were now cut off of all electricity. The storm outside raged harder and a bright bolt of lightening caught both their eyes as it touched down about 800 meters from Ben's back door. The loud clap of thunder followed almost instantaneously and they were both a little scared now.

"Want to go into the d—"

"Sounds great" Riley said, cutting her off before even hearing where she wanted to go, both of their eyes still on the back window watching as nature battled itself outside.

Quickly they both got off the stools and put their dishes in the sink, walking rather quickly out of the kitchen and down the hallway. She lead them to Ben's private den in the interior of the house, where had they not just seen lightening strike, they would not have been able to tell there was a storm going on. She went over to the large conference table set up in the middle of the great room which had handsome mahogany bookshelves on every wall. She gathered up a few sheets of paper and then flopped down on one of the chairs.

"So what did the piece of paper say, the one in the bible?" Riley said as he sat down as well, not missing a beat. She paused for a second before ruffling through the paper strewn about the table. She finally found a plastic paper slip and pulled it out of the mess. Riley could see a small sheet of parchment, maybe 7 inches by 3 inches, which looked considerably old. She squinted at it for a few seconds before angling it towards the light.

"The People Know,

What Only Has Been Told.

The Story Lost,

It's Age Of Old.

The Names At The Bottom,

Signatures signed,

Among them hold value,

The Place hidden,

Blind."

He sat there in silence after she finished reading it, letting the words sink in. She watched him carefully, the cogs in his head churning almost audibly. He stared at the bookshelf behind her, blinking every so often. One minute, two minutes, three minutes…eventually 15 minutes passed by of complete silence. She waited for him to figure it out, since she knew he would. It was pretty clear what document the parchment was talking about. She, Abigail, and Ben had all realized it the first time they'd read the clue. The first line correlated to one of the most significant documents in US history, besides the Declaration. She knew he'd figure it out too. He was a genuis, supposedly.

Finally, she watched him bring his eyes back towards her and his featured change from contemplative to horrified. He looked striken, as if he couldn't believe what he'd just realized. His jaw almost hit the floor as his face became paralyzed with the realization.

"The US Constitution"

**((Author's Note: Hey everyone! Thanks for the wait. So here's the first clue!!! I hope you guys like it, it took me a couple weeks to figure out what I wanted to do but I think I've got a good direction. Schools coming up so I'm going to get as much done as I can in the coming couple weeks and then I'll try and update as much as I can once I start school. REVIEWS OWN MY LIFE so they'd be much appreciated. I'll give you a cookie? Seirously ))**


	6. Chapter 6

**It's A Matter of Trust**

Disclaimer: I do not own anything mentioned in this story except for the character of Alexandra H.

_Chapter Six:_ Oh what a tangled web we weave/ when first we practice to decieve

_

* * *

_

_She was working late again that night. A small fire was burning in Ben's massive traditional fireplace and the den in which they had deemed headquarters was at the perfect temperature. She was curled up on one of the long, black leather sofa's with a black throw blanket over her legs, one of the many manila paper files in her hands as she read the contents carefully. Something just wasn't making sense. As her brown eyes trailed the final sentence on the sheet of paper she was reading, she sighed and shut the file, looking up towards the clock which hung above the door. And there he was._

_He was standing in the doorway, one arm resting above his head as he leaned against the doorframe. He was wearing jeans and a forest green sweater that made the blue in his eyes seem like deep pools of clear water. He was looking at her from his spot, a small smile on his lips. When she caught his eyes, he dislodged from his post at the door and slowly made his way to her, taking small deliberate steps. He reached her and then stood infront of her, holding out a hand. She took it and stood up, letting the blanket slide off of her and onto the floor while the file as well hit the floor, its contents now strewn about them. She was holding her breath, not too sure what was happening but loving it none the less. He closed the distance between them and with his free hand, brushed some of her hair out of her face while looking at her dead in the eyes. He was getting closer and closer to her; their lips mere inches apart. She closed her eyes, anticipating what was about to happen. Any second now…_

* * *

"Alex?"

Her body jolted up, as if a surge of electricity just went through her. Blinking, she took in her surroundings and composed herself. She was sitting at the table in the middle of the room, papers strewn about. She'd fallen asleep while reading a file on the chemical composition of the US Constitution, which clearly was a very dry read. She looked around and then ran a hand through her hair, glancing at her wrist watch.

"Yeah, I'm up. What's up?" she asked Riley, who was standing in the doorway, watching her with an amused expression. He leaned against the door frame and observered her as she groggily shoved some papers back into a manilla file, shutting it and placing it on a stack of similar coloured files that was growing quite precariously in height. She pushed her hair out of her face and rested her elbows on the table, yawning. She looked beat.

"I was just coming to get you, dinner's ready" he said to her, watching as she got up and shut off the lamp on the table, walking over to him slowly.

"I swear, if I have to read another file involving how much carbon or potassium the US Constitution contains, I'm going to flip" she said tiredly as they walked down the hallway towards the kitchen, where she could hear the faint voices of Ben and Abigail. He laughed and then turned the corner with her, finally reaching the kitchen.

"Alex, were you sleeping again?" Ben said as he turned around from the stove, continuing to stir whatever was emitting a delicious aroma. She crossed her arms over her chest angrily and glared at them all.

"You'd fall asleep to if you were reading some boring report on how the amount of Carbon 40 clearly co-insides in how the Constitution was signed in 1788, not 1787 when it was created. Tell me again why I have to fake being a Chemical Engineer? I didn't even take Chemistry in high school" she grumbled as she busied herself with mixing a salad. They all laughed and even Alex broke a small smile. It was pretty funny.

"The three of us are too well known. Any of us getting a job at National Archives would raise suspicion. People would get all excited and think that we were looking for another treasure, which we sort of are, but it's so much easier when people don't know. But that's where you come in. Alexandra Howe, Professional Engineer, has been tasked to do a full and complete diagnostic test as well as other research for the International Manuscript Foundation" Abigail explained, smiling rather smugly at Ben who was smirking at everyone. They all seemed to be rather impressed with the brilliance of their plan to get a good look at the Constitution.

"Que James Bond music since shockingly," Riley started, grinning as he finished pouring wine into four glasses, distributing one to each of them.

"The International Manuscript Foundation does not exist" she finished for him, making him frown.

"Hey, wanna not steal my thunder there, sunshine?" he said defeatedly, corking the bottle and putting it back in the fridge. She laughed and then took the salad to the table, the four of them sitting down to eat.

"They still have to verify it, of course" she pointed out in-between mouthfuls of capeletti pasta, which Ben had made, which was surprising, since every time he cooked they usually ended up ordering something else since it was usually inedible.

"They will. Ben's a pro at forgery. It's kinda badass" Riley explained, causing Alex to choke on the wine she had just tried to swallow. They all laughed again and eventually she settled down, her eyes watering from the choking sensation.

The conversation turned and the four of them spent a good deal of time at the table, conversing and eating slowly. They talked about a lot; movies, music, books, and even global warming. She was really enjoying spending time with the three of them since it didn't even feel like she was working most of the time.

"I'm going to head off…jet lag's been keeping me up pretty late for the past couple of days so I'm going to get some rest. Night everyone" she said, stifling another yawn as she departed from the kitchen and made her way to the stairs. Her feet seemed as heavy as bricks as she hauled them up the steps, finally reaching her doorway and throwing her body down onto her bed as soon as she shut her door.

* * *

Her eyelids fell like heavy curtains over her eyes and she was plunged into a world of darkness. She was so tired that she wasn't even planning on changing into her pyjamas. Her mind floated from topic to topic, eventually settling on the clue. _The people know, what only has been told_, she thought. _Well that clearly refers to the Constitution. That much is pretty obvious_.

She flipped over and onto her side, her eyes still shut and her mind still locked onto the clue. _The story lost, it's age of old. Okay so it's an old story, probably a legend or a myth of treasure…Atlantis, maybe? Oh for goodness' sake, of course it's not talking about Atlantis. That story hasn't been lost now, has it?_, she rationalized in her mind, slightly aggravated that it wouldn't settle and just let her doze off into sleep. She flipped over to the other side and kept her eyes shut, almost out of protest to her mind to let her go to sleep.

_The names at the bottom, signature's signed; among them hold value, the place hidden, blind. So basically the location of whatever we're looking for is hidden among the signatures somewhere. Who signed the Constitution anyways? Washington did, probably the most famous out of all 39 signatures,_ she continued to think, giving a muffled sigh as she resigned to her mind and opened her eyes.

"So the clue is hidden among the signatures…but how am I going to be able to find it?" she murmered to herself in a hushed tone, speaking out loud. Her mind raced a little bit faster now, stumbling along a potentially mission-halting road block. She had no idea what she was looking for let alone what she was going to find if in fact she was granted access to the Constitution. She'd basically be flying blind.

"Blind…" she murmered to herself._ Blind…blind. If someone's blind, they can't see. And the name to this place can't be seen since it would have been seen by now. So how is this location blind? Unless…_ Immediately, the cogs in her mind clicked together and the light bulb above her head lit up. She figured out how someone managed to hide a name to a location on one of the most influential US documents of all time. It was invisible, since it didn't use ink, and to the unsuspecting hand it would merely feel as random pumps and indents on a page since the alphabet for this type of communication was not founded until 1821, well after the signing of the document. Her eyes widened further at this realization and she bolted upright, sitting with her back as straight as a board. She knew how someone had managed to encode the Constitution with a name of a place. They'd done it through,

"Braille"

**((Author's Note: HEYYYY! So I know, it's taken forever for this chappie to be done and to be frank, it's not all that great. Well you try writing a half decent chapter while doing math/english/physics/and religion university prep!! Lemme tell you, IT'S FRIGGEN HARD. I'll keep on writing as often as I can and the next chapter I write for this will involve them actually going a head with their plans and things getting underway. REVIEWS OWN ME. Cookie? Oooh, no, a danish. Everyone loves a good danish))**


	7. Chapter 7

**It's A Matter of Trust**

Disclaimer: I do not own anything mentioned in this story except for the character of Alexandra H.

_Chapter Seven: Washington, DC ain't got nothing on Boston, as long as you're there._

_

* * *

  
_

The car ride to the airport was short, shorter then she remembered it. She sat in the back seat, her brown eyes hidden behind her Ray Ban aviators, looking out the window at the passing scenery. She didn't know when she'd be back, so she wanted to look at it all, as if to memorize the way there. She saw a sign and read that the airport was merely 2 km away, and her stomach did a turn. After a month of preparation, she was about to head to Washington, DC, to begin her work on the US Constitution, as a professional Chemical Engineering performing tests for a fake manuscript group. But still, after the countless hours spent poring over chemistry text books and protocols, she still didn't feel ready. She stirred in her seat in the back of Ben's car anxiously and then felt a warm hand press over hers, giving it a squeeze, which quickly brought her out of her revere.

They'd gotten pretty close over the past few weeks. Although he was always busy with his own research, he always took a couple of hours everyday to come help her with all the prep work that needed to be done. Although they were strictly just friends, she found their working hours extending longer into the night and their conversations were turning from professional to personal. Instead of grilling her about chemical compositions or engineering ethics, she found that lately he'd been asking more personal questions. And slowly, over time, she regaled to him her entire life story, detailing quite gruesomely her estrangement from her brother and the after affects of his national betrayal. Even in England she'd felt the shockwave of his actions. For three weeks after the scandal, paparazzi were permanently parked outside of her house, trying to get a comment about how she felt about it all. Some friends stopped talking to her, some family members stopped calling, and even her own mother was wary to talk to her about it all. Everyone thought for some reason that she knew what he had done, but no one listened; she hadn't seen him in over 8 years. The news of his actions had reached her just as quickly as it had everyone else; the repercussions were just a lot more severe for her.

"Relax Alex; you're going to be amazing. You're a sponge with knowledge, you've got this. Just breathe," Ben coached from the driver's seat as he spied her nervous face through the rear view mirror.

She grinned at him anxiously and her stomach did another flip as he pulled off the highway and into the airport. They found a parking spot relatively quickly and that's when her nerves went into over drive.

"Are you guys sure this is a good idea? I mean like, I'm sure there's another way to get our hands on the Consti—" she started.

"Alex, zip it" Riley ordered, pulling her suitcase out of the car's trunk and glaring at her directly. She nodded slowly and shook out her limbs, trying to calm herself.

"It's going to be fine, I've got this, It's gonna be amazing" she said to herself, eyes closed, trying to calm herself down. She heard Riley stifle a laugh and she punched his arm playfully, feeling her body relax as they joked around.

"Everything will be waiting for you in Washington when you arrive. A driver will be there waiting for you and he'll take you to your apartment. Everything you need will be there, including a secure phone line. Only call us on that, incase things go awry" Ben instructed as they entered the parking lot elevator to take them to departures.

"I'm to wait two weeks before making contact, right?" she asked, checking the protocol.

"Yes. Settle in, get a reputation as an introvert, and work hard. The harder you work the more responsibility they'll give you. Remember; never do any research unless you're totally alone. Once you have any proof, call us. We'll be in Washington as soon as you give us word" Ben said as they reached ground floor, the doors opening and washing her with warm air. She nodded and then left the lift, the three of them making their way to the US Continental Check in desk for Flight 456 to Washington. They stopped there.

"You're going to do great. Just relax and when in doubt, trust your instincts" Ben said encouragingly, grasping her shoulders and then giving her a big hug. She pushed her sunglasses onto the top of her and took a deep breath, nodding as the man let go of her and the moved to the side.

"I guess this is when you expect some motivational, uncharacteristically kind words from me before you leave for a mission that will potentially uncover yet another history defining treasure full of antiques, valuables and scrolls that could potentially re write history as we know it…so yeah, good luck. Break a leg" Riley said humorously, giving Alex a sly smile before pulling her in for a hug. She laughed and took another breath, her head going slightly topsy-turvy at the scent of his intoxicating cologne. She loved the scent he wore; she loved it so much that she'd pilfered one of his shirts from his room and drenched the poor thing in his cologne before she left.

"Oh, thanks for that, really, that's just…fantastic Riley, really" she chuckled, swinging the small, tan leather carry on Riley had been carrying over her shoulder and then looked towards the check in counter, her stomach erupting in a rabble of butterflies.

"We'll call you tonight to do a final time table run through. Remember, if you ever feel as if you need to get out, we're just a phone call away, okay?" Ben said as he nudged her towards the check in desk where an overtly perky blonde women with a green and navy blue scarf tied tightly, almost noose-like, around her neck. She dug around her bag for her ticket and passport and then put them on the desk, Riley lifting her large, black suitcase that contained everything she'd need in Washington onto the weighing convenor belt. In what seemed like no time, she was checked in and her luggage was being whisked away and out of sight, leaving Ben, Riley, and Alex standing by the boarding gates with only one of them being able to go through.

"We'll call tonight, and we'll come out to visit soon, okay?" Ben said, giving her one final hug before turning to leave.

"Good luck. You're going to do amazing, I can feel it" Riley whispered as he hugged her again, Alex clenching her eyes shut to keep herself from getting emotional.

"I'll talk to you guys later" she said finally, giving them each a smile before turning to leave. As she rotated her body, her eyes locked onto Riley's and for a second, she was lost.

His eyes were such an incredibly shade of blue; so clear and with the beams of light pouring through the class ceiling above, so piercing. Her breath caught in her throat as she turned and began walking to customs, her thoughts straying to Riley one last time before banishing him to a deep, closed off place in her mind as she focused herself on the task ahead.

* * *

Quiet, classical music quieted her mind as she went over the mental checklist of what she was to do. As the plane taxied down the runway, she put herself into a state of ease as she realized that it was too late for her to turn back. She went over what she had to accomplish in the next few months.

Settle into her apartment in Washington

Get a reputation as an introvert

Work hard

Gain trust

Be granted privileges to work on documents of the highest clearance (Declaration of Independence, Constitution, etc)

Then call Ben, Riley and Abigail to Washington stat so they could decipher the Braille together.

This was all based on the assumption that the clue was detailed on the Constitution in Braille. It accounted for the blind part of the clue, but the Constitution was written and ratified well before the creation of Braille. The Constitution, if she remembered correctly (which she did. She had a knack for little details and her uncanny ability to remember them) was written in 1787, ratified in 1788 but Braille was not developed by Frenchman Louis Braille until 1821. She knew there were probably a million reasons as to how a form of communication developed 30 years after a document was written showed up on the document in question; she just hoped that they were right. Without the Braille option, they really had no other leads. She knew that while she was away the guys would keep researching, but she knew they all truly believed Braille to be a clue. She just hoped they weren't wrong.

* * *

"So you're settled in? Your flight went well and your apartment is nice?"

Alex ran a hand through her wet hair, a phone tucked neatly between her shoulder and ear as she stepped out of her bathroom and into her new apartment, a fluffy white robe wrapped tightly around her body.

"Yes, I am. The flight went well and the apartment is amazing Abby, honestly. It's exceptionally nicer than anything I've ever lived in before, except for maybe, your house" she joked, padding her way across the quaint by small living room into her bedroom.

As if on que, at 10 pm that night, her telephone rang and she was greeted by Abigail's friendly voice. She'd had a whirlwind of a day; her flight landed right on time and from the second she landed, she was swept into a furry of activity. A National Archives director was there to pick her up and from there, she was driven to NA and into human resources where the terms of her employment were laid out. She had to sign a dictionary's worth of paperwork, but by 8pm, she was on contract for the next few months (with the chance of being extended if her work merited more time) in order to do research about the amounts of Carbon 14 and other radio-isotopes in some of the most important documents in American history. She was tasked with smaller documents at first, but she knew that she could eventually work her way up to the bigger guns.

She'd been dropped off at her apartment around 8:30 that night and as she rode the lift up, she realized just how astonishingly exhausted she was from the day she'd just had. Her plans were to unpack, take a shower, and then head to be early. But not before checking in with Boston first.

"Well, we all miss you. The house is not the same without you. Oh, here's Ben, I'm sure he wants to talk business. We're making plans to fly out for a week in a few weeks, we'll co-ordinate a good time later, okay? Good luck Alexandra, we're all so proud of you!" Abigail said before bidding her goodbye and handing the phone over to her husband.

Ben came on shortly after and greeted her warmly, the two of them exchanging few pleasantries before getting down to business. He updated her on new findings and emailed her new information regarding the research she'd be doing. They talked for about a half hour before she began stifling frequent yawns, not being able to mask them from the telephone receiver

"You're exhausted, so I'll let you go. Oh, hold on, Riley wants to talk to you. First the boy doesn't want anything to do with you and now, he's almost tripping over himself to talk to you. Anyways, good luck tomorrow. You'll be great"

She bit down on her lip to keep herself from grinning at Ben's words as she went back into her living room to curl up on a couch.

"For the record, I did not trip over myself to get to the phone. I tripped over one of kitchen stools, those things are practically lethal. Anyways, how are you?" he asked, her body tingling slightly at the sound of his voice.

They made light conversation for a few minutes before she yawned again, trying to keep the sound of her tiredness from the receiver to keep him on the line for as long as possible.

She didn't know when it'd had happened. One day, she was trying not to strangle the guy and the next, she was losing her breath in the middle of an airport. He'd turned out to be a really, really great guy with an incredible amount of intelligence (which was a turn on), a great sense of humour (another turn on), and was incredibly good looking (the biggest turn on of all). She was surprised at how madly her heart had beat when he'd hugged her and she couldn't for the life of her shake the feeling of her breath being caught in her throat, the vision of his amazing eyes locked on her's almost burned into her memory for life.

"You're tired, so I'm going to go. Good luck tomorrow Alex, you're going to do great" he said finally, Alex almost already asleep before perking back up.

"Thanks Riley, I'll see you soon. Good night" she said, getting up off her couch and stumbling back into her bedroom, the phone still at her ear, waiting for the dial tone to sound so she could hang up.

There was silence for a few seconds and she stalled, waiting for the dial tone. Was he still on the line?

"Riley?"

"Yeah, um, so. Just wanted to say that I miss you, WE miss you. Boston isn't the same without you here" he said in a low voice.

She could almost see his face in her mind, scrunched up, waiting for her response or mentally kicking himself to saying what he'd just said.

She just smiled, bit down on her lip, and replied.

"I miss you too"

((**Author's Note: So, updating for the first time in about two years? LOL. Sorry for the delay...readers, are you out there? *knock knock* ARE YOU THERE READERS?? IT'S ME, KRISTEN, THE AUTHOR. This is well over due, and I'm not going to hate anyone if they don't read this...it's taken two years but I think I'm back, if at least for a little bit! Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter! Review if you did, review if you didn't. Reviews make me happy! =] ))**


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